Daily Archives: May 19, 2010

Last evening at sundown the Jews began to celebrate their modern interpretation of Pentecost (Shavu’ot). Christians know this from the Old Testament scriptures as the feast of weeks (Leviticus 23:15; Deuteronomy 16:9).

The church had it beginning with the preaching of the gospel in its fullness on the first Pentecost after the resurrection of Christ (Acts 2).

When we noticed that the sky was clear with a few nice clouds, we decided to go to Nebi Samwil (Prophet Samuel), a site suggested as the location of Mizpah by some scholars. Others suggest Tell en-Nasbeh, a mound located at Al Bira in the West Bank. I will have to postpone commenting further due to the fact that my flight will soon be called.

Samuel, the last judge of Israel, called all of the people of Israel to Mizpah and judged them (1 Samuel 7:5-6). Samuel also anointed Saul to be the first king of Israel at Mizpah (1 Samuel 10:1). Mizpah became the headquarters of Gedaliah as governor of Judah after the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem (2 Kings 25:23).

Back to Pentecost. Pentecost is celebrated in much the same way as a sabbath. I said all of that to say, there was very little traffic this morning as we made our way to Nebi Samwil. This distant photo shows how clear the view was on the southern side of the ridge where Nebi Samwil sits. The view on the north side of the territory of Benjamin was not quite as clear, but it was still nice.

Nebi Samwil on the Ridge. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins

The lady in the photo below is my lovely wife of more than 55 years. She has been with me on numerous tours to Israel, but she has made two trips when it was just the two of us. I must say that she is not that much into tells. A day or two ago I took her to Tell Jerusalem Mall, and that made up for a lot. 🙂 We have had a great time these past 9 days since our group returned home.

Elizabeth at Nebi Samwil. Photo by Ferrell Jenkins.

Thanks for sharing this trip with us. Please continue to read the travel blog on a regular basis. If there is some particular photo you would like to see let me know by leaving a comment.